The "End of the Forest" fortress has always been majestic and cold, and can be said to be the most fortress in Dejia. In addition, the "Black Tide" army is stationed inside all year round, and cannot leave a step, which also makes the sky above the fortress always accumulate a dense aura of the undead.
Cumulus clouds never disperse.
In the center of the fortress, there is a special black brick bell tower, nine stories high, with a large black iron bell on the top. If it is rung by special means, it is said that the sound can be heard thousands of miles away and the whole country. It is the southwest of Dejia
Maximum alert sign at the border.
It is said that the only time this black iron bell rang was when Griffin Hart personally commanded the human army in an attempt to conquer Dejia. For nearly a thousand years since then, the bell tower and the bell have remained silent, so much so that today it is almost
Forgotten by the world.
Standing on the top of the clock tower, with the black iron bell at his back, Bone Blade General Nelson looked at the undead army slowly advancing in the black forest at the far end, silent.
It has been many years since the Temple of the Holy Spirit has seen such a large army attack the human kingdom. Moreover, the Death Preacher personally led the army, so it can be said that no room was spared.
"Bender, what are you doing? What is your god thinking?"
Muttering silently to himself, General Bone Blade shook his head slightly.
In today's Dejia, the name "Banderer" is almost unknown, and the very few who know it do not know or dare not say it because it belongs to the "Patriarch of Death".
Today, almost no one in Dejia knows or remembers the two people who first built the Holy Spirit Temple: one, Bande, and the other, Nelson.
From the beginning to the end, Nelson never believed in the God of Death. The original purpose of the Holy Spirit Temple that he and Bander co-founded was just a mutual aid and mutual benefit organization for the dead souls of the Dejia indigenous people, not the religious behemoth that it later became.
Fundamentally speaking, Nelson does not believe that the undead of Dejia are essentially different from other life forms on the continent. In other words, the undead life is just a special branch among thousands of life types, or a special stage. And the world's view of Dejia
The fear of the undead is more based on prejudice and irrational hatred.
Of course, due to the nature of undead life, it will be quite aggressive and corrosive to other life races. This is also an important reason why Dejia is hated and spurned by the entire continent. But after growing to the middle and high levels, this kind of
The natural aggression will be controlled by reason, just like the evil wolf is shackled, and the undead can communicate normally with other life forms.
Therefore, starting from this point, Nelson believes that if control measures are taken properly, the relationship between Dejia and other countries on the continent can be eased and normalized.
It's a pity that not only other ethnic groups on the mainland will not believe such a view, but there is also no one among the Dejia natives who responds to this view. Except for Bande'er back then.
Therefore, the two of them jointly established the Holy Spirit Temple hundreds of years ago, hoping to gather other like-minded people. At the same time, it was also to deal with the increasing pressure on the indigenous people from the foreign undead warlocks.
It's a pity that when the "Holy Advent" came one day, the inverse cross of the god of death was erected on Mount Naraku, Bande gave up his faith, and Nelson chose to leave.
Afterwards, the Death Patriarch emerged and gradually became the two Dejia giants alongside the Lord of Amon.
Nelson came to the "End of the Forest" southwest of Dejia and became the Bone Blade General, guarding the border to this day.
Hundreds of years are a long time and have changed too many things; but it also seems very short. Because Nelson is still Nelson, still stationed alone at the "end of the forest", standing still.
As if aware of the special gaze coming from the distant fortress, but as if nothing happened, Moriarty looked back and stared for a long time before turning back, continuing to sit firmly on the "Nightmare", and slowly marching into the depths of the Black Ember Forest with the army.
.
After leaving the alliance headquarters, he adjusted the Feather of Transformation and transformed into a high-level death knight. Together with Gauguin, he joined the ranks of the "Skitarii".
Different from the conventional armed forces of the church, the Skitarii are a "militia" temporarily gathered by believers in response to the call of the Holy Spirit Temple. They are used to supplement insufficient military strength or serve as "cannon fodder".
Of course, as death knights, Moriarty and Gauguin will never be reduced to "expendable materials" like ordinary skeletons or zombies. Instead, they will be directly recruited into the "regular army" and accept the instructions of the thirteenth-level Death Paladin Riga.
Figure command.
In order to keep a low profile and not attract too much attention, Gauguin's "Niracek" was temporarily put away. Both of them used ordinary undead war horses as mounts. But even so, Moriarty and Gauguin still followed suit.
Together with the other death knights, they were collectively inspected by the Death Preacher. Fortunately, the feathers of transformation were really powerful, and Gauguin also restored his normal arms and specially changed the shape of his armor, so he was not recognized by Jie Xiu.
After receiving a wonderful "Death Theology" sermon, the undead knights were excited and full of fighting spirit. Through this almost face-to-face contact, Moriarty confirmed that the Death Lord was indeed in a bad situation.
Although Jie Xiu still maintains his usual arrogant, dignified and calm attitude of having everything in hand in front of everyone, some detailed actions, such as frowning unconsciously or a faint irritability in his breath, show that the Death Preacher is not
Everything is under control as it seems on the surface.
"Two thousand skeleton warriors, a thousand zombie corps, a high-standard death priest group... but only one company of death knights... and the most important long-range attack unit in siege - Lich, there is not a single one... It is conceivable...
Knowing how hastily and reluctantly Jiexiu sent troops to the Dawn Fortress this time, even the Death Patriarchate may not really approve of its actions, so the 'Holy Son' group dared to undermine it so openly..."
Following among the death knights, looking at the mighty undead army ahead, Moriarty shook his head secretly.
Without sufficient support from powerful units such as Death Knights and Liches, no matter how many low-level infantry soldiers there are, it will be difficult to pose a major threat to the Dawn Fortress with a complete system and strong defense. Unless the Death Preacher has other weapons
The trump card in hand, otherwise the seemingly massive skeletons and zombies will only be slowly exhausted in front of the human arrow towers and tight city defense positions.
"Could it be that we are planning to rely on powerful warriors to break through the defense?"
Moriarty had a sudden thought and quickly denied himself.
This time the crusade is led by the Death Preacher, and the standards can be said to be ridiculously high. In the history of the Holy Spirit Temple's attacks on the human kingdom, there has never been a scene where the Death Monarch took the lead.
But the problem is that from Jiexiu on down, the only undead members accompanying the army are: a ghost dragon messenger, a level 13 skeleton sniper, a level 13 zombie commander, and a level 13 death knight commander.
Spirit Holy Knight Rigatu.
Four powerful undead men. Most of them are only level 13. Such a lineup is not even as good as Hondaa's combat power configuration when Morogan blocked the battle a few days ago. One can imagine what the situation of the Death Preacher is now.
The embarrassment of his subordinates, and the devastation his direct lineage had endured, with almost no essence remaining.
"If he still fails in front of the Dawn Fortress this time, then Jie Xiu's position as the second-in-command in the Holy Spirit Temple may really be in jeopardy."
After pondering for a long time, Moriarty still shook his head silently. He seemed to be quite worried about the "future" of the Death Preacher.
The trees in the black forest are densely packed, and the ghost trees are extremely hard and difficult to cut down. Therefore, when encountering dense forests, you can only slow down or even take a detour. In addition, small death storms erupt from time to time, which also cause additional losses to the army, causing the army's forward speed to slow down again and again.
slow.
Fortunately, the undead hardly need additional logistical supplies, otherwise it would be really difficult to move forward in the Forest of Black Embers.
It took more than half a month for the huge army of thousands of people to slowly reach the southwest edge of the Black Forest, and beyond that was the realm of the human kingdom.
Behind the army, deep in the forest, there are still large numbers of low-level undead gathering intermittently, wanting to join this "holy war" against humanity.
"What!?"
Suddenly receiving an urgent report from the rangers, he learned that a large number of undead were emerging from the black forest in legions. Intelligence officer Hessing's face immediately turned green and he immediately ran to the Marquis' office to report.
"Thousands of zombie corps, and a huge number of skeletons as far as the eye can see? Helsing. Are you sure the rangers are not dazzled, or are they hallucinating from drinking too much Leitus last night?"
As the supreme commander of the Dawn Fortress, Iserlohn has served here for more than twenty years. He has successively served as the captain of the Sword and Shield Infantry Squadron, the captain of the knights, the general logistics officer of the fortress, the deputy commander of the fortress, and now the commander-in-chief. It can be said that he is a true commander-in-chief.
The "old man" who shares the honor and disgrace of Dawn Fortress and is bound by blood.
The Marquis of Iserlohn is nearly sixty years old. He was born into the royal family of Erathia. He is a cousin of the former King Glenhild and is also the uncle of the current Queen Griffin. Therefore, in addition to being the supreme commander of the Dawn Fortress, he is also a
He holds the position of deputy minister of royal affairs and is a pure backbone of the "Royal Capital Faction".
Of course, if it were just a royal dignitary, the Queen's uncle, the old Marquis, would never be able to stay "peacefully" in the Dawn Fortress for more than 20 years. More importantly, Iserlohn is also a powerful fifteenth-level Holy Temple Master, enjoying "
The illustrious reputation of "Thunder's Hammer". Even the public opinion within the Holy Spirit Temple is deeply wary of Iserlohn, and ordinary undead experts dare not go against it easily.
"Your Excellency Iserlohn. Our young men all have eyes like falcons and noses more sensitive than jackals. How can we admit our mistakes?" After being slapped by the old Marquis as a joke, Helsing immediately calmed down and loudly defended his men.
Clear reputation.
"Haha, you missed it. All those brats have bellies like bears. Drinking wine is just like drinking water. No matter what, it's not enough." Seeing the intelligence officer blushing, Iserlohn laughed again, and then continued
The conversation changed: "Didn't the rangers say how many lichs and death knights there are?"
"There is a report, but the number is very wrong. I suspect there is some conspiracy among the undead." Nodding, Hexin hesitated.
"How many?"
"The death knights only have one company, and the lichs don't have any. Sir, isn't this too contrary to common sense? Do the undead think that infantry alone can climb into our 'Twin Cities'?" The intelligence officer himself didn't believe it.
Shake his head.
"It's definitely different from usual."
Iserlohn also frowned his long gray eyebrows, picked up an almost completely blackened pipe with one hand, slowly stuffed it with gold leaf tobacco sent from Standwell through special channels, lit it, and said, "Puff."
Suck it up.
After a while, the entire room was filled with sweet smoke mixed with cocaine and dark chocolate.
"Your Excellency, will the undead plan to besiege the fortress for a long time?" After a while of silence, the intelligence officer hypothesized again.
Because the Fortress of Dawn is too close to Dejia, and there are always sporadic low-level undead that come out of the Black Ember Forest from time to time to cause harm, the area near the fortress is not suitable for agricultural cultivation, let alone farming. Therefore, military supplies, supplies
All grain and grass need to be transported from neighboring Greenland County, which is costly.
"Besieging the city... It's not like the undead have done it before. But the reserves in our treasury are enough for two years. The reinforcements from the royal capital have already arrived in such a long time. What's the use of a temporary siege?" The old Marquis shook his head and said
He took a heavy drag on his pipe, his eyes shining brightly.
"Maybe... maybe..." Hexin opened his mouth, really not knowing how to explain such a strange army of undead.
"Your Excellency! Your Excellency Iserlohn! The Death Evangelist was discovered... The Death Evangelist Jiexiu was discovered outside the Black Forest..."
At this moment, a figure suddenly broke in. As soon as he entered the office, he closed the door tightly, lowered his voice and exclaimed, with an almost panic expression.
"What!?"
The old Marquis, who was sitting on the high chair, immediately stood up. Because he moved so quickly, he even smashed the ebony desk inlaid with gold and gems in front of him into pieces. The documents, pen and ink on it, and even the set of
The beloved pipe accessories were scattered all over the floor, and the owner had no time to care about them.
"It's true. The secret sentry I deployed near the Black Forest happened to find it, so I rushed back to report it. And I just went to the 'Central Light Array' to check, and sure enough it showed that a level 16 undead powerhouse was approaching the fortress." Si.
Gott is one of Iserlohn's adjutants, and he is also a noble son of the royal capital who came to serve here two years ago, and he is quite trusted by the old marquis.
"The Death Preacher...Why did he lead the army to attack the Dawn Fortress...Does the bastard from the Holy Spirit Temple want to be serious this time..."
After the initial shock, the old Marquis regained his composure and calmness, signaled the adjutant and the intelligence officer to be silent for now, and slowly walked around the room.
Seeing this, Hexin and Scott also fell silent, just staring at the commander's expression, and their hearts that were beating so fast just now slowly slowed down.
About five minutes later, Iserlohn stopped and turned sharply to look at the adjutant: "Scott, record the order."
"yes!"
"First, the Dawn Fortress immediately enters actual combat status and raises the alert level to the highest level; second, orders Julian, Bailiemen and Yingsi Kesai to come here to prepare a military meeting before the battle, and also invites Master Yang to attend; third,
Activate the communication circle to send a message to the royal capital, asking Her Majesty the Queen's swordsmanship teacher, Your Excellency Xiu Sai, to come to Dawn Fortress for support. The sooner the better..."
"What, invite Master Sword Master to come here for support!?" When hearing the third order, the adjutant couldn't help but whisper. (To be continued.)
